1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to generating animations for distribution, and in particular relates to customising animations distributed to multiple viewers.
2. Description of the Related Art
Animations are used widely in television broadcasting. For example, in an election broadcast, statistics can be presented in a way to enhance the communication of complex information to viewers. Such animations are usually generated digitally, relying on digital systems to render the information graphically, and often receiving new data from an on-line database. Several graphics can be sequenced in time in what is referred to as a rundown, and the corresponding animation sequences may be cued manually or automatically in a studio automation system.
The design of such animations is a complex and time intensive process. All the objects of an animation are defined as combinations of primitive geometric shapes, such as cubes, spheres and so on. Surface textures, text fonts, and three-dimensional views, are all coordinated by the graphic designer to create the best possible effect. Animations often comprise multiple moving objects, so as to provide a more exciting visual appearance. In order to achieve this, the designer must define the motion, as well as the appearance, of all moving objects contained in the animation. This can take considerable effort. As the capabilities of animation processing systems increase, the possibilities for detail and visual richness put additional pressure on the designer to make use of these facilities.
The financial cost of this design effort requires that animations, or their components, be re-used whenever possible. Known animation systems allow customisation by provision of an Application Programming Interface (API). Using the API, an animation can be modified by a computer program written to interface with a specific animation. The complexity of modifying an animation is minimised by the creation of such custom interfaces, thereby enabling journalists, TV program producers, and so on, to interact with and modify an animation through a simplified interface that can be presented on a conventional computer terminal.
The creation of such custom-written software also requires a lot of effort. Both levels of design require highly skilled personnel. The known animation design process is therefore split into two expensive procedures, and extra effort is often expended to overcome difficulties created by the fact that such complex design processes are often being carried out by different teams of people.
As a result of these considerations, custom animations are only used extensively in high budget television broadcasts. The possibility to further customise an animation in response to the differing requirements of cable distributors for a particular program, is overlooked, due to the fact that most such programs are distributed live, and, in any case, the complexity of customisation using known tools, puts this possibility beyond the reach of local cable television stations.